My Black Friday

Well if you know me at all you know that I LOVE a good deal. So naturally Black Friday would be thrilling for me. I'd been scouting the ads for weeks before they even came out...who knew they are leaked and scanned online for all to see. This year we are on a tight budget being on one income so I have very specific things I want for people and only a certain amount of money. So here's how my Black Friday went down.

Thursday morning...I'd heard that many places offer their doorbusters online on Thanksgiving...Kohls was one of them...I helped my mom get a gift for someone and got the good deal PLUS an extra 15% off through ebates (and 4% cash back) and we didn't have to wait in line for when they opened at 3am...

Thursday night...Toys R Us opened at 10pm...we get there at 9:30...see like a thousand people in line in the freezing cold and decide it's not worth it.

Friday morning...I get up around 7, eat breakfast, and leave about 7:30am. My strategy was if what I want is still there then it's meant to be. So I decide to try out Toys R Us and even though it's very busy they still had almost everything in their ad and there was hardly a line to check out...score!
Then I moved on to Target...What I really wanted for Ben was there at half off and they had 2 left so I now have enough left in my budget to get him a few more things!
I also stopped and Bible's Plus, and Joanns but that was just for little things...Joanns had the longest line to check out of any of the other stores...and I wasn't crazy enough to stand in the line to get fabric cut either...LOL Though I did notice they still had alot of their doorbusters left when I was there at 9am which I don't think they did last year.

Saturday night...Kyle and I are bored and I figure what the heck I'll check out Kohl's deals for kids holiday clothes and I have a gift card so I found Kyle the pants and shirt I want to go with his sweater vest for Christmas for $18 (normally $36!).

And thus ended my weekend of shopping. I would have bought alot more if it was in my budget. I just love shopping for people and getting them the perfect gift.

My online shopping has begun and will continue for the next few weeks. I've discovered all the great deals on books and other things I can get on Amazon rather than buying in-store and signing up for Amazon.com/ mom (free) gives me free shipping for 3 months!

I've also been using my Swagbucks to buy gift cards for Amazon and Paypal which has been helping too! Remember....all these money saving things like ebates, shopathome, swagbucks, and amazon mom are all FREE. So click on the links to sign up today and start saving!

Saving Money on Groceries

A discussion on one of my friend's facebook page prompted me to write a post about good buys on groceries. I know this will only be helpful for those of you who have these stores in their area so sorry if this doesn't apply to you. I thought it would be helpful to organize this by food type.

Produce- (I don't feel the need to buy organic produce because I wash everything with veggie wash.) Sunflower Market by far has the best produce and the best sale prices. I've tried Farmer's Market, and though they have good prices their quality isn't the best. I won't even try the grocery store anymore. I do like to buy peaches and cherries from Costco when they are in season because even though they are expensive they are the sweetest and juiciest things you will ever put in your mouth.

Meat and Seafood- Costco has great quality meat and their prices aren't too bad but I really prefer to buy no hormone meat. Sunflower is the best place for this because everything is all natural. You can get 93% lean ground beef for $2.99/lb or less on a good sale. Chicken breasts can be as low as $1.99/lb on a sale. They have steak on sale regularly too. I do tend to buy my seafood (aka cod and salmon) frozen at Costco, it is packaged well and tastes good.

Canned Goods, condiments, baking goods, etc.- I buy all this at Super Walmart unless there is a good sale. You can get soup for a decent price at Costco. I get a huge bag of semi-sweet choco chips at Costco for $9 when the small bags at the store are $4. They have the Gherardelli brand during the holidays so I stock up on those.

Cereal- Costco is the place. You get two bags per box for $6-$8 depending on the type. They have a good variety. You can't beat the price on oatmeal (instant packages) either.

Milk- Prices change frequently at Costco but I get it for $1.89/gal. They come in 2 gal. increments so make sure you can drink that much first. I would like to buy hormone free milk but it is 3 times the price.

Eggs- I buy one dozen range-free eggs at Sunflower for $1.99

Cheese- NO WHERE beats the prices at Costco. You can get a large block of mozz. or colby/jack and Costco for $3-$4 and that hardly buys you a small block at the store. I also will buy a pre-shredded bag at Costco for burritos and nachos for a good price.

Papergoods and plastic bags- I am not partial to any brand so I get Kirkland brand at Costco and it is much cheaper. You can get 12 rolls of paper towels for $16. I buy all my trash bags and plastic sandwhich bags here too.

Diapers and wipes- I buy Up & Up from Target. I like how they work and I can get 92 size 3's for $13 and change and I find coupons too. Wipes are a good deal at Costco and they are great quality I have never tried their diapers but they are just a little more than Up & Ups.

Toiletries- If Costco carries your razor blades they are ususally cheaper and last for a year or more. Shaving cream is usually about the same between Costco and Walmart. We buy the Kirkland Brand shampoo and conditioner and it's like $6 for two huge massive bottles and it lasts well over a year. You can get a good deal on OTC medicines too. I have to add that you won't beat Costco's prices on tampons and pads either. I am particular to Playtex and Always and that's what they carry.

Some tips
Costco-They send out coupons for name brand items, but watch out because even with the discount is still more than their own Kirkland Brand usually. Make sure when you buy in bulk you will use it up before it expires or split the quantity with a friend! Just because it's in bulk doesn't mean it's cheaper so bring a calculator and know your prices of items from other stores!
Sunflower Market- Wed. is double ad day! Get two weeks worth of sales on one day! It is also the busiest day of the week I think. Check the dates on the sale tags...sometimes things will be on sale for weeks or months so don't think you have to stock up right then.

$3.50 Babylegs!

Go here to get Baby Legs for $3.50 and up! I bought 4 pairs! I've always wanted to try them with Kyle.

Big Diaper Savings!

I am been quite busy these days digging up good deals. Here's one on Up & Up diapers I got from the Never Pay Retail Again- paired with this weeks sales at Target, I got 4 packs of diapers for the price of 3 (I did have a $5 giftcard I earned from their deals last week). I basically got 25% OFF plus free shipping on top of saving .20 on each pack!

Oh and for those that are wondering the quality of these diapers if you've never bought them? They are AWESOME! Just last week I bought huggies cause they were on sale...he leaked through in his first nap with them on...I don't see why Huggies are so great and cost twice as much...I'm sticking with Up & Up (I was not paid to give theat review, it's from personal experience)

Oh and it's the first day of the month so don't forget to go print of this month's coupons from coupons.com!

Want to take Hubby out for Valentine's for $3.60?

Go to Restaurants.com, choose which place you want to go (there aren't too many yet in ABQ), then enter FEAST in the check-out to get 70% OFF!!! I Just got $30 worth of gift certificates to Zea for $3.60! You can only use one at a time for this restaurant, and have to spend $20, but half-off is still a great deal! There are different requirements for each restaurant.

By the way, I got this info from here.